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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Diablo 3 - Patch 2.4.0 PTR Preview

We draw ever closer to the Public Test Realm for Patch 2.4.0, and it’s time to take a look at what the next patch for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has to offer! We recommend you grab a drink, maybe a snack, and get comfy—there are loads of new items, features, and quality of life changes to cover, so let’s get to it!

Please note that this is only a preview. The below information does not reflect all changes available in Patch 2.4.0 and is subject to change. Some images represent works in progress, and may not be representative of the final product.

New Zone: Greyhollow Island

Explore a new stretch of Sanctuary by venturing to Greyhollow Island! This mysterious forested locale is steeped in intrigue, and rumors abound that those who visit are doomed to never return. Brave the wild beasts and supernatural creatures and unravel the mystery behind the tragedies that have occurred here. This new zone is exclusive to Adventure Mode, but be forewarned; the land itself is said to be hungry for blood.

Expanded Areas: The Eternal Woods and Royal Quarters

In addition to an entirely new zone, Adventure Mode will be growing even bigger. We’ve expanded on two existing areas in Sanctuary to give additional variety to bounties and pique the interest of the most stalwart explorers.

We know already what lies beyond the gates of the Ruins of Sescheron, but what’s the land like before it? Take a look over your shoulder and wander the Eternal Woods, an undead-infested boreal forest featuring new events and bounties.

Have you ever wondered what lies beyond the rubble in Leoric’s Manor? In Patch 2.4.0, you’ll no longer need to speculate as the blockade has been cleared and the Royal Quarters are open for exploration! Learn more about the Skeleton King’s living days and discover hidden secrets that are bound to lead to more adventure.

Revamped Set Items

One of our long-standing goals has been to bring more parity across class sets. Patch 2.4.0 is going to be a milestone in this regard, as we’re revamping, revisiting, or revising nearly every one of the 24 class sets in the game. Some will see total overhauls, like Thorns of the Invoker or the Shadow’s Mantle. Others will be getting their power or play style juiced up, like Inna’s Mantra or Firebird’s Finery.

We’ve also completely reworked two existing two-piece jewelry sets and will be adding a two-piece flail and shield set for the Crusader. These are bound to spur an untold number of never explored builds, especially for those of you who’d like to explore the boundaries beyond 6-piece class sets.

The amount of changes headed to each set varies, so keep a close eye out for our upcoming PTR patch notes for full details!

New Feature: Set Dungeons

With all these updated sets comes greater power, and, with our latest feature, greater challenge. We want to give players the opportunity to learn and master their sets inside and out. To do this, we’re introducing an entirely new set of challenges in the form of Set Dungeons. Once you complete and don the full six pieces of any given class set, you’ll receive a clue to track down an ancient dungeon designed just for you and your set.

These completely static dungeons are not randomized, and it’s up to you to decide how to best utilize your powers to complete these challenges. Mastering a set dungeon comes with cosmetic rewards unique to each set, but the truly dedicated can earn even more exclusive rewards by mastering all the sets from one class or even all 24 of them!

New Feature: Empowered Rifts

While not everyone is a virtual billionaire, we’ve heard from plenty of players that there just aren’tenough ways to spend your piles of filthy lucre. We agree, and our next feature aims at giving you a way to turn all that gold laying around into a greater chance of glory with Empowered Rifts.

When you enter a Greater Rift, you’ll have the option to choose to make your attempt an Empowered Rift. By spending some of your hard earned gold, you’ll increase the number of possible Legendary Gem upgrades at the end of a successful run by one, to a maximum of four. The amount of gold this will cost you varies based on the tier of Greater Rift you’re attempting, so spend wisely!

New Legendaries

It wouldn’t be a new content patch in Diablo without a slew of new items. In addition to the numerous Set revisions being made, we’re adding over forty new Legendary powers in Patch 2.4.0. We’re adding new powers to existing power-less Legendaries, introducing completely new items, and even updating some existing powers that previously lacked that familiar orange text. We couldn’t possibly cover them all here, but enjoy this tiny taste of what’s to come!

Revised Buff UI

When Kanai’s Cube was added in Patch 2.3.0, we knew we were opening up a level of power to all players that was completely unprecedented. With all these crazy new levels of power came an overburdened buff bar, and we immediately heard your requests to spiff up the user interface for better, clearer communication.

We’ve removed some of the more static buffs from the buff bar area, improving the skill bar to show duration and whether or not a given skill is active. This has cleared up a lot of space from the more precious temporary buff area for each class, and we’re excited to hear your feedback on this huge quality of life addition.

More Stash Space

It’s been a long time request for players to have more room to store their treasures, and we’re pleased to announce the technology has arrived! With all the new stuff we’ve added and the loads more that are headed your way, it’s time to give you more storage for all of it.

So much room for activities!

We’re adding an additional gold-purchasable stash tab for all players with the Reaper of Souls expansion. If you’re concerned that’s not enough, don’t worry—we’re also adding a way for players to earn additional Stash tabs, up to a maximum of 10, through our Season Journey feature.

Stash space works differently for our Console players, so we’ll also be offering comparable new space on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. You’ll be able to purchase up to 350 item slots using gold.

Season Journey Revisions

Seasonal players have spent Season 4 getting to know the Season Journey, a feature that details your adventure through any given Season, tailored for different styles of gameplay at every level. We’ve got some revisions headed to the Season Journey that are bound to make Seasons as a whole an adventure you’ll always want to re-explore.

We heard a lot of your feedback when it came to Seasons, so first up is a change that includes our non-Seasonal players: starting with Season 5, we will no longer be including new Seasonal Legendaries. Instead, all Legendary items headed to Patch 2.4.0 will be made immediately available to players regardless of Season participation.

However, we still want there to be item-based rewards as part of the Season experience. We’ve introduced Haedrig’s Gift, a special bundle of Set items you’ll receive on completion of certain stages of the Season Journey. Should you complete the first four chapters of the Season Journey, you’ll be guaranteed a full set of one of your six piece class sets. Which set applies to the Season will rotate with each new Season, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to collect them all.

We’ll also be continuing to include cosmetic rewards, like banners and portrait frames, so don’t worry—there are plenty more of those to come!

Season Rebirth

Sometimes, when you finish a Season, you just can’t wait to jump straight into the next one. We wanted to introduce a way for players to transition from Season to Season quickly and seamlessly, avoiding the tedium of the end-of-Season purge. The Season Rebirth option does just this, taking a non-Seasonal hero, reducing them to level 1, and stripping all their gear. Any gear removed from a hero in this way is automatically mailed to you in the non-Season, giving you thirty days to reclaim the items at a later time.

This change allows you to participate in a Season while keeping you’re hero’s name and hours played. This is a great option for when you’ve grown particularly fond of a hero and want to keep their legacy going or if you just want to jump straight into the newest Season. Bear in mind that your Paragon level, completed achievements, and other accomplishments all remain behind with your non-Seasonal heroes.

New to PC: Action Combat

Players who have challenged Diablo on console may be familiar with this upcoming feature to PC and Mac. While you may already be familiar with Massacre and Destruction bonuses, these kill-and-destroy streaks function quite differently in the Action Combat system.

Massacre bonuses begin once you’ve killed at least fifteen or more enemies, and as you kill more, you’ll see this new bar accompanied with a timer that indicates how long you have to engage another enemy before you trigger your bonus. Completing a Massacre bonus gives you a boost to experience gained—the more monsters you kill, the higher the bonus.

Destruction bonuses occur when you chain demolishing destructible environment objects in the world around you, including barrels, stalactites, flimsy wooden doors, and more. Chaining together this wreckage will grant you a temporary boost to speed that will last longer the higher your chain reaches.

Finally, you can receive the Trap Mastery buff by defeating enemies through the clever use of environmental traps. This handy buff lasts longer based on the number of enemies defeated and grants you double resource generation for its duration.

The Action Combat feature will be available to all Diablo III players, regardless of whether you have upgraded to the Reaper of Souls expansion.

And So Much More…

Patch 2.4.0 is a monstrous patch, packed to the brim with not only features we’ve seen requests for, but our own love letters to a game we have poured our hearts into and love dearly. We’re so eager to share all of this and more with you that we are aiming to launch the Patch 2.4.0 PTR in the weeks following BlizzCon so you can dive in and provide your feedback on all these new features.

We’ll have more information on how to participate on the PTR soon, nephalem, but in the meantime—we’ll see you in Sanctuary!